Hospital Receives FEMA Aid to Rebuild

Mission Community Hospital has received a $12.6-million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to rebuild its quake-damaged facilities in Panorama City and San Fernando, officials said.

The hospital, which provides psychiatric care and surgical and emergency services mostly to poor residents of the northeast San Fernando Valley, will rebuild a three-story tower at the Panorama City location and perform seismic upgrades throughout its facilities.

The grant will cover 90% of the costs of the $14-million project. “It’s taken a very long time, but it means so much,” said executive assistant Denyele Kovac.

“This means the hospital can continue to offer health care to people who can’t afford to pay for it. We take the people that no one else wants.”

Although Mission suffered substantial damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the hospital has remained open. Earlier this year, it emerged from bankruptcy proceedings, which began in 1995.

Now that the grant, which was delayed by the hospital’s financial troubles and FEMA’s backlog, has been approved, Mission officials will begin studying architectural plans to rebuild the facilities, Kovac said.

Fred Flores, an aide to Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills), said the grant was awarded from a special FEMA program created to help rebuild hospitals after disasters.

“This is a base grant. It will give them enough money to bring them back to their pre-earthquake level,” Flores said. “They can apply for more funds later.”

Mission Community Hospital was created by joining San Fernando and Panorama community hospitals in 1992.

Last December, the hospital opened the Valley’s most comprehensive rape-treatment center. Located at the Panorama City facility, the center treats the victims of one-third of reported rapes in the Valley, officials said.